Making IT Live up to its Promise
There seems to be a day for breaking every bad habit. For example, today is “World No Tobacco Day.” Having one special day can be good for awareness campaigns. Actually changing habits takes much longer.
The reason we call habits “bad” is because they are working against some other goal we have. Our habits might be bad for our health, or take time away from more important things. The trick is not to focus on the habit you don’t want, but instead focus on the better result you do want.
In the middle of a deluge of sports news from Beijing, the Cincinnati Bengals will face off against the Los Angeles Rams in the Superbowl on Sunday. I’m not watching any of it.
If you are into bobsledding, ski jumping, or American football, by all means, tune in. But we only have so much time on this planet. Make sure you spend it wisely.
Are you the author of your life? Think of your life as a book where you write a new page each day. Some of the things that happen have to be done. You need to eat, sleep and take care of personal hygiene. You will spend part of your time on your job. I discussed that on Monday.
But that still leaves a lot of time under your control. Are you spending that time wisely? For some people, watching Netflix is the right choice. For others, it is keeping in touch with friends, contributing to open source, or learning something new.
The test of your priorities is to write down what you did with your personal time each day. If you feel proud and happy to write about your day, you are on the right track. If you feel hesitant or shameful when writing down how you spent your time, that shows you there is something you can improve.
